Patriots coach Bill Belichick was left to adjust after losing Danny Woodhead and Rob Gronkowski during Sunday's win over the Texans. / Jim Rogash, Getty Images

by Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY Sports

by Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY Sports

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- On the first New England Patriots snap Sunday, Danny Woodhead took the handoff and plowed into a roadblock at the line of scrimmage. No gain. Then the pint-sized running back waved to the bench and hustled to the sideline.

Woodhead was finished for the day. Thumb injury.

Six snaps later, on the next possession, Rob Gronkowski buzzed deep along the sideline and made a sweet over-the-shoulder grab of Tom Brady's spiral. Two problems: The pass sailed out of bounds, and the mega-sized tight end waved to the bench.

Gronkowski was finished for the day. Broken forearm. Again.

Losing two offensive starters on the first two series is not the ideal way to go about advancing in the NFL playoffs, but it seemed fitting for the Patriots as they steamed forward with a 41-28 conquest of the Houston Texans.

All season, this is how Brady and his offense have rolled. Adjust on the fly, go to Plan B, find some new options.

Remember how the Patriots redesigned their scheme last season around a monstrous two tight-end attack that featured Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez?

Well, that hasn't quite worked this season, when the Patriots had the same starting lineup on offense in back-to-back games just once this season. The tight ends started just five games together during the regular season. Hernandez missed six of eight games with an ankle injury, and after he returned, Gronkowski missed five games with the fractured arm.

Now Gronkowski's gone for the rest of the postseason. So they must deal with that.

They handled it Sunday, racking up 457 yards and hanging 41 points on a defense that earlier in the season looked to be one of the best in the league.

"We had a whole plan built for (Gronkowski) and Woody," Brady said. "We run the first series of the game and all those plans change. I think a little of it was, 'What are we going to do now? How are we going to adjust?' But we seemed to settle in there midway through the first quarter and put together a pretty good game.

"Obviously, it's a bummer to lose anybody, but someone of Rob's importance or Danny's importance, we need guys to step in and fill the void."

Brady passed for 344 yards, with three touchdowns and zero picks, and his go-to guy was familiar enough. Wes Welker was again the perfect antidote to a blitz-heavy defense that harassed Brady a few times but was most often a step away from his release. Welker caught eight passes for 131 yards while typically lined up in the slot and was often crossing underneath just as the rush approached Brady.

Yet his biggest catch came as he lined up wide and hauled in a 47-yard pass on a go-route. That was one of the matchups Belichick alluded to. Another one came in the fourth quarter, when backup running back Shane Vereen lined up wide left, matched against inside linebacker Barrett Ruud. Brady saw that mismatch and flicked a deep sideline pass that Vereen hauled in for a 33-yard score.

Vereen, the third-string back, made the most of the extra snaps ordered with Woodhead's injury. He scored three touchdowns and produced 124 rushing-receiving yards. Michael Hoomanawanui picked up some of the snaps for the injured Gronkowski, and was effective blocking for a power rushing attack that tallied 122 yards and averaged 5.1 yards per carry.

Belichick has been the NFL's most resourceful coach for a long time, which in addition to Brady's accurate arm is an obvious reason that New England is headed back to the AFC Championship Game. When they host the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, it will mark the seventh appearance in the title game in 12 seasons for the Patriots.

All of that resourcefulness will surely be tested against the physical Ravens, who have engaged in quite the AFC with the Patriots and will seek to avenge last year's loss in the AFC title game.

All-pro guard Logan Mankins said the adaptive nature of the offense begins with versatile players. "And everyone who has been asked to do different things has stepped up," he said.

Yet whatever has happened to this point isn't enough, Mankins pointed out. Someone asked him whether the Patriots had opened the playoffs with their 'A game,' and he seemed a bit taken aback.

"Nah, we still had some breakdowns," he said. "Tom got hit a few times. Too many negative runs. But we were able to overcome those, and put points on the board."